DisunityComic Book Review

Disunity explores a future earth torn apart by overpopulation and famine, and the repercussions of a failed experiment to save it. John Connati is the physicist who, determined to fix Earth’s problems, doomed the world and himself. His experiment opened a wormhole which only succeeded in dragging other worlds into trouble, and bringing their denizens to an already damaged Earth, and had the added side effect of trapping Connati in time, so to speak. Due to his exposure to the failed experiment Connati cannot die, and his injuries only last a short period of time, as his body quickly reverts back to it’s original state at the time of the accident. We assume this is why he’s been alive for 200 years, his body never advancing in age past the point of his exposure to the opening wormhole, and we do know that while he has a sort of ‘healing factor’ due to the accident he still feels pain. Connati is searching for a way to reverse the damage he’s done, or at least stop anymore damage caused by his mistake while appearing to be one of the most hated people in the universe.

Created by Ron Batchelor and Rem Fields, the book itself is well designed, with easy to follow panels and conversation. The layout makes for an easy read and lets the reader concentrate on the art and story. The digital format isn’t my favorite, but for review purposes it was good. I tend to like holding a book in my hands, looking at the art, turning pages, all of the tactile experience that comes with reading a book, and good news is there are plans to release a hard copy when the series wraps up so readers like me who prefer a physical copy can look forward to that.

I found Rem and Ron’s story and dialogue well written, and unique enough that I haven’t read anything like it. Of course there are elements to the story that are familiar, but overall the setting and plot so far are very original. Our hero, John Connati, is on a mission to right his own wrongs and atone for his mistakes. That in itself is a fairly common story hook, but it’s the delivery and the setting that make it unique. In the first issue we are given just enough of a backstory so we have a general idea of what’s going on and why, but not so much that we don’t have questions. The writer does a great job of giving you plenty of these hooks, questions as you read that you want to know the answers to. This should keep readers coming back, interested enough to find out more about this world without feeling inundated with so much information they don’t care anymore. After we get the setting, and John’s backstory the writer quickly jumps into the meat of the story and we start to get a broader picture of what Disunity is about. John’s pragmatic character fits the sci-fi noir theme and the prose helps convey the style without taking it over the top with obvious cliche. Without giving away too much of the story I think readers will find an interesting first issue here, a good hook for future tales, and just enough mystery to get you asking for more.

Ron’s art is good overall, with some excellent panels here and there. It didn’t blow me away, but it has a lot going for it. The details are mostly clean, and the inking enhances this without blurring or overpowering that detail. The action in the panels, and across panels is very well done. Fight scenes and movement translate very well from the stills, and the artist has a good grasp of anatomy and perspective from what I see so far. There is certainly some room to grow, and the artist seems to be working toward an individual style, but is still very reminiscent of a lot of other artists on the market. The colors work well on most panels, but in some the colors seem an odd choice, too subdued or washed. This may be intentional, and as the world grows it may become more apparent as we are exposed to the theme and style of the series as a whole. In many places though the colors are bold and stand out against the stark backgrounds. The artist did a great job showing contrast and shadow and making sure the focus in each panel stood out to the viewer. I can see a lot of potential in this series to deliver a good noir story with eye-catching art throughout.

Overall this is a good start to what could be a good series. If you like sci-fi and adventure comics give this one a try. You can pick it up for free at Comic Fury, or you can throw a little support to the artist and writer and pick it up at ComiXology for $1.99.

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